Retail segment

By the end of 2008, ORLEN Group had a network of 35 fuel stations in Lithuania, managed by AB Ventus Nafta. Most of them – 26 – functioned under the COCO formula (Company Owned Company Operated), and the other 9 – under the DOFO formula (Dealer Owned Franchise Operated). At year end, 22 stations functioned in the premium segment under the ORLEN Lietuva brand, and 13 – under the Ventus brand.

The Group is planning to develop its retail network in Lithuania only in the premium segment, which is why it continued the rebranding of its Lithuanian stations in 2008. The decision to expand only with the ORLEN Lietuva brand was taken based on a 2007 analysis of retail fuel market players positioning in Lithuania. The results of the analysis clearly showed that the Lithuanian market lacked a broad offer of fuel and non-fuel products, combined with high-standard services and modern outlook of facilities. ORLEN Lietuva is a response to the market demand and perfectly fills in the gap. The rebranding process of the existing ORLEN Lietuva stations is to be completed in 2009.

All the ORLEN Lietuva fuel stations have shops organised in a new, customer-friendly format, and an innovative catering offer introduced by the Stop Café Bistro brand. The menu was developed based on original recipes created especially for the ORLEN network. The high non-fuel sales dynamics in 2008 proves that the new offer and the bistro were kindly welcome by customers.

In 2008, the Lithuanian retail fuel market, developing incessantly over the previous four years, reported a downward trend. The main reasons for the shrinking of the market were the overall economic slowdown, particularly visible during the second half of the previous year, and recession in the transport and construction industry, and related sectors, which translated into dropping volumes in the business sector.

The overall downward trend was also reflected in AB Ventus Nafta sales results, whose volume dropped by 5.6% in 2008, compared to 2007.